Valieva

It’s seems unfair even to be writing about this. I don’t know Kamila Valieva. I barely know anything about her. All I know in fact is that she’s a Russian skater who, by all accounts is very good at skating. And yet, apparently, I know lots about her. Certainly enough to have an opinion about whether she should be allowed to compete in the individual event she’s currently leading at the Olympics. But I’m not alone I don’t think. We all have an opinion. We all know what we think and whether she should be competing and whether the team of Russian skaters should be awarded medals for winning the team event, don’t we? On the face of it, I find the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport somewhat bizarre. As I understand it Valieva has been allowed to compete even though she failed a drug test because of her age. She’s 15. And apparently her future will be damaged if she’s banned now. I’m not sure how that arguments stacks up. It seems, well, ridiculous. The whole point of testing for drugs is so that people don’t do it. So people don’t cheat. But on this basis it’s ok if you’re young. Isn’t this an invitation to all those young athletes out there to cheat: “go ahead and cheat. You’re young it’ll be ok. We wouldn’t want to damage your future.” Nonsense! There’s so much we don’t know concerning Valieva and what really happened. And, she could well be an innocent young woman in a system over which she simply has no control. It’ll never happen, because if you’ve ever seen me skate you’ll know I’m not very good, but if I was another competitor, I think I would be struggling to compete in the same event as someone who has failed a drugs test and is still there in the competition. What the long term implications of all this will be is anyone’s guess. And I feel for Valieva. She obviously brilliant. And yet we’re all talking about her (at least I am) for all the wrong reasons. But it’s got me thinking: we are constantly making judgements about others. And mostly, if ever, we don’t know the whole truth about them. God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That’s because it’s about judging and it’s God place to judge, not ours. And eating the fruit of that tree got us into a whole lot of trouble. And it still does. Judging one another that is. It is true that we constantly have to make judgements. Living well would not be possible otherwise. But it may also be true that we are far too quick to judge the actions of others. If you knew everything about me, I’m sure you would be quite disappointed. The good news for me is that God is the only one who knows my whole story, the whole truth about me. And he loves me still. He does. Watching the whole saga surrounding this young Russian skater has made me reflect on how I judge others. And it’s made me realise I’m glad God is the one who will ultimtately be my judge.